mutuality | wroetoshaw

fifty six

The last chapter. Thank you for reading.

THE DAY OF THE CHARITY MATCH.

SATURDAY 9TH SEPTEMBER 2023

"Holy shit," he his breath hitched, his hand intertwined with my own, standing on the centre of the pitch in London Stadium.

It was early, but that didn't equate to how busy it was already. Stadium workers, other players, crew members were already bustling around the stadium, but for now, it was just him and I on the pitch together.

"It's a lot bigger than the pictures online looked," I commented, having literally zero football knowledge.

"And it's not even the biggest in London. Still, it's going to be fucking crazy when it's full. We sold out," he says, still sounding in disbelief at it all.

"Of course you did. You're big time now," I laugh, squeezing his arm as I lean into it.

Even for me, despite not having to be on the pitch in front of all of their fans, nerves flooded my entire body. I mostly felt proud of him for going out there in the first place.

"Shall we head up to the suite?" He asks, interrupting my thoughts.

"The suite?"

He nods, and he has that look in his eye he gets where he's done something and not told me about it.

"What have you done, now?" I ask, not sure whether I was supposed to be excited or scared. It truly was fifty-fifty with him.

"You'll see," he grins, pulling my wrist gently in a direction to our left, walking off of the ginormous pitch.

We passed by several people who said small greetings to Harry, and some even to myself. It was still crazy to me that strangers knew my name, even if it was just by association with Harry.

We reached the inside area, finding our way to a lift which he called, waiting patiently. His foot was tapping against the floor, and he was looking left to right repeatedly, which looked incredibly suspicious.

"You're going to freak me out if you keep looking around like we're being followed," I say, attempting a light hearted joke.

"Sorry," he smiles, kissing my temple as the lift opens, pressing his hand on the small of my back to allow me to enter first.

He presses level five, which obviously corresponds with the floor with all the posh suites on it, normally reserved for the top attendees of football games. I assumed that was where all of the Sidemen's friends and families would be as a collective. I'd done my research, it cost ten thousand to rent out each suite, with the stadium having ten altogether. An easy money making scheme, I supposed.

Once we were there, I noticed some of the other guys instantly, hanging round in a group to our left. I went to walk towards them, but Harry called out my name softly, shaking his head.

"What do you mean? They're there," I say, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"We're this way. Come on," he smiles, holding out his hand for me to take again, which of course I do.